Sister In Suffering
by skyflower51
Summary: The year that never was. For Jack, it was a year of torture and humiliation, yet he managed to keep the will to live, and return to his team. But he might never have managed it, had it not been for the wisdom of an 11 year old girl.


Sister In Suffering

'Hello,' I said.

He didn't reply at first. His head was hanging limply on his chest, as if he didn't have the strength to hold it up, and his eyes were closed. His face was streaked with dirt and blood, and I could see the agony that he had to endure every second of every minute of every hour of every day clear and stark on his face. He was but a wrecked shell of a man, his heart broken, his spirit crushed.

It seemed to take all of his powers to raise his head and look at me. His eyes, sharp blue, locked onto mine, hazel brown, and seemed to drill inside me, seeing right into my soul and laying me bare. I was amazed by the look in those eyes. They had seen so much, been through so much… I'd never seen eyes like them, and I never have since. As they looked at me, they gave new meaning to the phrase 'focused like laser beams.' Those ancient eyes stared into my young ones, and I found it impossible to look away. I've never forgotten that first moment, that first look. It is burned into my memory.

For a second he just looked at me. Then finally he said weakly, 'Hey.'

I wasn't quite sure what to say. I knew who he was. Everyone did. I knew why he was here. So did the rest of the world. I was watching the moment the Master took power- and not just on TV. I was there. In the room. The youngest person present, just ten. My father is one of the Master's bodyguards. I don't hate him for that, though I feel that I should. I hate the things that he's forced to do. He only does it because disobeying the Master means death. And if he were to die, I would die too. So he has to do those awful things… so no, I don't hate him for it. I love him for it, though I know I really shouldn't, when they're such terrible things... It's all so confusing. But it isn't his fault. When he took the job, he never realised he was working for a psychopath. But, anyway, that's why I was there- because my father had taken me up to the Valiant with him. My aunt- who looked after me while he was working up on the ship with the Master- had just died, so I had nowhere else to go. So I was there, an eyewitness, as the Master took over the world. I saw him kill the president. I saw him kill the man who stood before me, kill him with those awful, cold words full of madness- 'And the best bit is, he's not dead for long! I get to kill him again!'

And he had. I knew. My father told me that occasionally he'd seen it. I won't tell you some of the ways he'd been killed. They're too terrible to even mention. Even thinking about it makes me want to cry, even though it's all over now, and will never happen again.

I couldn't stop thinking about that as I looked at him. I was looking at a man who had experienced more pain in the last six months that I ever had or ever would go through in my entire lifetime. I was looking at a man who could never die. I was looking at a friend of _her_- the legendary Martha Jones.

I didn't know how to feel. Amazed? Awed? Honoured? Mostly I just felt stunned. Everyone said that he couldn't die, but standing there looking at him… it seemed to me that he was dead inside. He had lost all hope, all his will to fight. He was an empty shell.

But maybe not… in those blue eyes, there was still a spark. Small, but big enough to be coaxed into a fire, if it was given the right wood to burn on and the right care. So, though I knew I shouldn't be down here, that I was out of bounds and I would be punished if I was caught, I didn't leave. I stayed and talked.

'You're Captain Jack Harkness,' I said, rather stupidly. But I was only eleven- I said what came into my head.

'What's left of him,' he replied quietly, still gazing right inside me with those incredible eyes. There was another pause.

'And who might you be?' he asked eventually.

'Jones, Ellie Jones,' I told him.

'Nice to meet you, Jones, Ellie Jones.' He gave a sad smile. I was to find out later that he was thinking of someone else whose name was Jones, who had introduced themselves in the same way, and to whom he had given the same reply. 'I'd shake your hand, but, uh…' He glanced at the metal cuffs that bit into his wrists.

I felt a surge of anger. Six months. How on earth could anyone keep a fellow human- well, no, not a fellow human, seeing as the Master was a Time Lord, but a fellow living creature at least- chained up in such a way for six months? I'm not really a person who hates other people, like I said. You should never hate people, my father always told me. You should hate the things that they do. 'There's no such thing as an evil person,' he said to me once. 'All people are good people at heart, Ellie. It's the things that they do that are evil.' I knew that the Master hadn't chosen to have a regeneration that turned him into a maniac. It wasn't his fault. But at that moment, I did hate him. I hated him harder than I'd ever hated anything or anyone before- or since, for that matter.

I glanced around. There were no guards, though there was meant to be a twenty-four hour watch on this room. I knew why they weren't there- they were all up on deck, watching Japan burn. The Master had bombed it with firebombs, just because he could. Well, that and because Martha Jones was rumoured to be there. He was out of luck, though, this time. The Resistance confirmed that morning that Martha was the only person to make it out of Japan alive. I've no idea how she did it. I'd been up there with the others, but I'd only been able to stand it for about a minute. Then I'd rushed down below deck, as if trying to run away from the terrible sight… I'm the fastest in my school year, but not even I can run that fast. The memories were still fresh in my mind as I happened upon Captain Harkness.

'Where'd everyone go?' he asked me.

'They're… they're up top,' I told him, my voice catching slightly as I swallowed down tears. 'Watching Japan get destroyed.'

He said nothing, but the look on his face and the look in his eyes told me more than he could ever need to say.

'They say Martha Jones was there,' I added.

His eyes widened, and for the first time he seemed properly alive. 'Martha! She was there? Did she get out in time?'

'She's fine. She was the only one to escape.'

He relaxed visibly, letting out a sigh of relief. 'Well, what did I expect? After all, she _is _a Jones.'

I frowned. 'What's so great about being called Jones?'

He smiled- a real proper smile. I could see memories of happy times swimming behind his eyes. 'Ianto,' he said, as if that explained the whole thing.

I nodded slowly. 'Um… if you don't mind if I ask… who's Ianto?'

He closed his eyes. 'Who's Ianto? He's all that I've got to live for.'

I felt that he was going to say something else, so I waited.

When he opened his eyes, I saw that they were wet. 'He's one of my team. Torchwood. Heard of them?'

I hesitantly inclined my head. How could I not have?

'I never realised how much he meant to me… how much he still means to me. How much he always will mean to me. And I never told him, not until it was too late, not until _this_.' He didn't need to tell me what he meant by _this_- it was only too clear. He meant the Master. The slavery and oppression. The torture and humiliation. 'And now… I don't even know where he is. Last I heard of him, he was still stuck in the middle of Nepal, with the others. He might even be dead. The only good thing about it is, if I don't know where he is, it means the Master doesn't either. If he knew, he'd be sending out soldiers to catch him and bring him back here and…' His voice trailed off. I could see him fighting back tears. 'The only thing he could possibly do to hurt me more than he already has done would be to hurt Ianto.'

I looked at the ground. It was clear that Ianto meant more to him than the entire universe. I couldn't begin to understand how he felt. But I could see the pain in those eyes, the agony and torment… and I wanted to do something about it.

Sitting down cross-legged on the floor and sweeping my ponytail of browny-blonde hair out of my face, I faced him. 'Mister Harkness-'

'Jack. Call me Jack.'

'Um, Jack? Can you tell me about your team?'

He gave me a funny look. Now I wasn't the only one who wasn't really sure what to say.

'I mean… I'd like to know about them. You used to catch aliens, right? That must have been really cool.'

He gave a little chuckle. 'Cool. Yeah, you're right. It was definitely cool.' He grinned ever so slightly. 'There were five of us,' he began.

'There still are five of you,' I corrected him.

He gave me an incredulous look, his grin growing fractionally. 'Ok, Miss Jones. There are five of us.'

'Call me Ellie,' I told him.

His grin grew a little wider again. 'Me, Gwen, Owen, Tosh and Ianto. And Myfanwy, I suppose.'

'Myfanwy?'

'The pterodactyl.'

My eyes widened, and my child's enthusiasm made an appearance. 'Pterodactyl?' I gasped, thrilled.

He laughed- a real, proper laugh. 'Yup, pterodactyl.' With a small, wistful sigh, he continued. 'Torchwood… we're a society that was set up by Queen Victoria to combat extra-terrestrial threats. Torchwood One was based in London. It was nothing like us. It wanted to use alien tech for the glory of the British Empire. We're Torchwood Three, based in Cardiff. We're there for another reason.' He'd been looking at the floor, but now he raised his head again and met my eyes. 'How much do you know about Cardiff, Ellie?'

I thought. 'It's in Wales.'

He grinned. 'Yeah, it is.'

I thought harder. 'It's the capital of Wales.'

He smiled. 'Yeah, it is.'

I though as hard as I possibly could, biting my lip and screwing up my face. 'It rains a lot there.'

He burst out laughing. 'Yeah, it most certainly does. But you didn't mention that it had a great big space-time rift running right through the middle of it.'

I frowned. 'Never knew it did. We never got taught that in geography.'

He laughed again. 'Well, it does. And every so often, stuff slips through. Creatures. Technology. Bad stuff and good. Our job is to destroy the bad stuff and use the good stuff to protect the human race.'

'You do that with just five of you?'

'I couldn't need any more. They're hand-picked, the lot of them. Take Gwen. Gwen Cooper. She's the newest member of the team. It was her own curiosity that got her in. She found out about us and just wouldn't let it go. She had a sort of committed determination that we need in our line of work. So I took her on. She's a field agent and our police liaison officer. She… I guess I did have a slight crush on her. Maybe I still do, I dunno. But she's got a boyfriend already, Rhys, and…' He shook his head slightly. 'She's quite a character, our Gwen. You can't tell her what to do, for a start. She damn well knows her own mind. She can be pretty unfeeling at times, and there've been moments when I've wanted to murder her. But I think we've changed since she joined us. I think we've become better. Something she said when we first met… she wanted us to do more to help. And we've tried to.'

I nodded. 'And who are the others?'

'Doctor Owen Harper, our medic. He's the most complete and utter self-centred, rude, antisocial, egoistic, selfish twat I've ever met.'

'Right,' I said, not sure whether to frown or grin.

'He's the resident doctor. He'll try and make out on any girl who's stupid enough to stay still for long enough- except for Tosh, of course. He never seems to even realise that she's there. And he's always the one to question me, to raise difficult issues… but he's part of the team, like all of us, and I wouldn't want him to be gone.'

I was imagining them in my mind as he described them, picturing them, wondering if I would like them if I knew them.

'Tosh is our technician. What she doesn't know about computers isn't worth knowing. She's the smartest of the lot of us- except for the fact she's always mooning over Owen. Poor kid. She knows he's never looked twice at her, but she won't give up.'

I nodded. I know a bit about that. This boy in my class… well.

'And finally, last but so, so not least… Ianto. My Ianto Jones.' He smiled through his sorrow. 'When we first met, he introduced himself just like you. Jones, Ianto Jones. I didn't want to give him a job at first, but then… he helped me catch Myfanwy and I realised how smart and brave he was… not to mention the fact that he was very good looking.'

I gave a quiet snigger.

'He's the most amazing person. The very meaning of loyalty. Brave, selfless, smart, never thinking of himself before others. I don't know when it started… between the two of us, I mean. But I never really thought, never realised… how I really felt for him. And now it's too late.'

I gave him a long, slow look. 'So… you've given up?'

He looked taken aback. 'No! What makes you think that?'

'You said it's too late. Implying that you'll never see him again to tell him. You think this is the end, don't you? You think this is all life is going to be from now on, waiting for the Master to come and kill you again.' I knew I was being a little harsh, but whatever came into my head came out through my mouth when I was that age- and I had to show him that there was more to life than this.

'This isn't the end. One day, no matter how long it takes, Martha will come. We will be free again. I'm going to go back to school. I'm going to see my friends. I'm going to be a normal kid. And you're going back to Torchwood. You're going to be with your Ianto. You're going to defend the world and save the planet and stop aliens from taking us over. This is _not _the end!'

There was a pause. Jack looked at me very intently. Then he burst out laughing. 'I think I've just been shown up by a ten year old.'

'Eleven,' I corrected him.

'Eleven. Sorry.'

I wondered whether or not I was getting through to him. I hoped so. He couldn't give up. He had to believe- for what did we have if we didn't have hope?

He looked down at the floor for a moment. 'Tell me about yourself, Ellie.'

I was confused. Why? Why was he interested in my life? I was just an ordinary girl. But something about his tone allowed no refusal.

'Um… Ellie Elizabeth Jones. That's me. Eleven years old. My birthday is the third of June. I… I should be going to secondary school in September, but the Master's kind of ruined that. School shut down only a week or so after he came to power. Never thought I'd say it, but I really miss lessons. Especially art. My teacher says I'm very conscientious, whatever that's supposed to mean.'

Jack gave a small grin. 'Hard-working. Diligent.'

_Dili-what? Why do grown-ups need to use big words all the time? Probably to hide the fact that they've got such small brains, _I thought. Hesitantly, I carried on. 'I live with my dad. My mum died in childbirth. I've always felt sort of guilty about that, as if it was my fault she died. I know it's stupid, but I can't help it.' Dad's told me a hundred times that it was nothing to do with me, but it doesn't change how I feel a bit. I wish I'd known her.

'I'm pretty good at school, I guess, but not exceptional. I'm totally rubbish at science, though, and I hate maths. I'm best in art. I want to be an artist when I'm older.' I blushed without really knowing why. I'd never told anybody that before, except my dad and my best friends.

'I like animals. I used to have a cat, but he ran off not long after the takeover. I don't know where he is. I hope he's alive. His name's Freddy. Black with yellow eyes. When the Master's gone, I'm going to find him.'

Jack had closed his eyes. He appeared to be drinking in every word I said.

'Um… Jack? Why, exactly?'

He smiled sadly. 'Because… I needed reminding that even if I'm starting to lose hope, not everyone has. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Promise me something, Ellie Elizabeth Jones.'

'What?'

'Make sure it's a great life.'

I paused, thinking hard. 'I'll promise, as long as you promise something too.'

Frowning, he met my gaze. 'Which would be?'

I blew air out of the side of my mouth. 'Tell me, Jack. What colour are his eyes?'

He looked at me in confusion. He knew who I meant; he just couldn't understand why it was relevant. 'Blue. Why?'

'You know why,' I replied.

He looked confused, but I'd achieved my aim. He wasn't thinking of how hopeless everything was anymore- he was thinking of Ianto. A smile stole over his face, a proper, real smile. 'Blue. Like the sky on a spring morning. And when I look into those eyes… it's hard to stop. I… I think I upset him sometime, 'cos I don't look at him that much when the others are hanging around… but it's only because I'd probably be staring at him for five minutes solid and everyone would begin to wonder what I was doing.'

I nodded. He looked as if he was in a dream now, rather than in the nightmare that his life had become. 'You know when they say in books, that someone's smile makes the sun come out? I always thought that was just a cheesy line, but with Ianto… it's true. Not literally. Of course, not in Cardiff, (I sniggered rather loudly at this point- it was clear that Jack didn't think much of the Welsh weather) but…' He closed his eyes again. 'He doesn't smile enough. But when he does… it makes your heart glow. Even in Wales, you feel warm.'

At this point- despite being eleven years old- I felt more adult than ever before. 'And isn't that a good enough reason not to give up?' I demanded. 'To keep fighting? Think of what Ianto would say if he knew you'd lost hope. For heaven's sake, you're the leader of Torchwood. You fight aliens! Haven't you ever been in a situation where everything's seemed totally lost, and you've just wanted to give up? And it's all turned out fine? You know what this is like? It's like a school term. Don't you dare laugh, 'cos it is. You slog through, you do your homework, you go to the lessons, you get some fun out of it as you can, and you never, ever think, 'oh, what's the use, my whole life's going to be working like this, doing quadratic sequences and studying the life cycle of a pea-pod.' You look ahead, to the end of term, which is definitely going to come, and before you know it you've broken up and you've got a six week holiday before you go back to school next year. And when you're in the holiday, you mustn't think about the next term, and all the work and boredom you're in for. You enjoy the freedom you've got and live life to the full. And this- this is no different! OK, so I guess it's harder than algebra and writing sonnets, but the principal's the same! No matter how far down the drain your life's gone, no matter how little hope there is left, no matter how dark the night is, the sun _always _rises. And when it does, you can bet anything you like it'll be the most beautiful dawn imaginable.'

I paused, a little out of breath. Jack stared at me for what seemed like an entire hour, but of course was only a few seconds.

'I've lived for so long,' he said finally. 'I've seen things you couldn't believe were real. I've met so many people, lived so many lives… and let me tell you something, Jones, Ellie Jones. I've met people four times your age who didn't have a quarter of your wisdom.' He sighed. 'You know what the problem with this planet is, Ellie? It's us grown-ups. We start of like you- young, eager to change the world, happy and innocent-'

I burst out laughing. 'Me, innocent?'

'Well, fairly innocent, anyway. And we grow up, and we lose all of that. We start worrying, and getting stressed, and we lose the happiness that you kids have. We start caring about ourselves, and that's where all this starts.' As he said the word 'this' he tugged one wrist slightly, and the chains clinked. I looked away.

'But you… you're the future. You say there's still hope, and you're right. You're the hope. The fate of the planet- even the universe- is in your hands. It's going to become what you make it, and you know what? When the world's in the hands of people like you, I reckon it's going to become something good.'

I blushed, smiling.

'You're the hope, Ellie. You're certainly my hope. You, Martha, and Ianto. It's definitely something about the name Jones. I'm sorry. You were right. I'm not giving up. Never.'

'Promise,' I ordered.

'I promise. And you- do you promise?'

I raised my right hand, little finger and thumb joined together in a brownie-guide salute. 'I promise.'

For a moment we just stayed there, smiling. Then there was a quiet voice from the doorway.

'Ellie?'

My father stood there, frowning, looking confused. 'Ellie, what are you doing down here?'

'Talking,' I said, still smiling.

'Well, yes, I can see that. But-' He looked from me to Jack, then from Jack to me. 'Ellie, everyone's coming down from deck. I think you'd better go.'

'Sure.' I turned back to Jack. 'Nice talking to you,' I told him.

'Same to you.' He dipped his head slightly.

'Remember you promised.'

'Always.'

I made my way over to the door. I hesitated as he called out to me.

'Ellie. Thank you. And… goodbye.'

I smiled again. 'No, not goodbye. See you soon.'

/

That was my first visit to Captain Jack Harkness. But it most certainly wasn't my last.

Having a father who's one of the Master's most trusted guards has its advantages. I pulled some strings with him, and he in turn pulled some strings with the Master- very discreetly, of course. And so, when it was Dad's turn to guard Jack, we would have a whole hour before the shift changed, in which to talk.

We talked about a lot. I won't go into detail, because most of it was just banter, and you don't want to know about every single topic we talked about over six months. But I guess you will want to know this- I did a lot more for Captain Harkness than chat. When I next returned to Earth from the _Valiant, _I contacted a member of the resistance. I became, in effect, a spy.

The Master, you see, was rather a bit too arrogant for his own good. He had this habit of, whenever he got a bit of information –usually about Martha- that Jack wouldn't like, going down to the engine room and flaunting it in his face.

'Guess what? I have reason to believe that a certain little Miss Jones has been located in Ecuador. Now, I wonder, what am I going to do about that? Oooh, I know! Let's send out some soldiers to bring her up here and kill her. What do you think, freak?'

And of course, Jack would tell me, and I would tell the resistance, who would tell Martha in time for her to sneak away. In case you're interested, when the Master's gorilla-men turned up in Ecuador, they were attacked by a jaguar, and didn't find a sniff of their target. They returned three days later with a very impressive array of claw marks all over them. And they didn't even manage to kill the jaguar.

That was one of my self-appointed jobs. But I had another one too, and that was a job which gave me much less pleasure. To the Master, Jack was a game. A toy. Something to be played with until it was broken into pieces. And so, many were the times when I'd go down to visit him, and find him inches from death. Some of the things that were done to him… I can't even bring myself to write them now. I think the worst times were the ones when he was left to die of thirst and starvation, because it took so long. At least if he was shot or stabbed it didn't take days. I soon learned never to go down to him without food and water to sneak to him when nobody was looking.

But mostly, I was just there for him, when nobody else was. A shoulder to lean on. A friend at hand. A sister in suffering.

Six months, I was there to ease the pain whenever I could. And then we heard the news.

The Master had found Martha.

/

How am I to describe that day? I had turned twelve not long ago, and I was beginning to wonder if I would ever make it to thirteen. Martha had been wandering the world for a year, and yet she didn't seem to be making any move against the Master. And then, the news came that she had been caught.

I hated myself then. What sort of a spy doesn't know when the person they're spying on has done exactly what you've been trying to stop them from doing? Jack told me it was nothing to do with me, but I could see the despair returning to his eyes- despair that I had been fighting off for six months.

We were gathered together. The Master was smiling; triumphant. He had won. There was no disputing it. Despite what I'd told Jack, hope was gone.

But I'd forgotten one thing. Martha's name is Jones. And if your name is Jones, as Jack had proved to me, then there's more to you than meets the eye.

She wasn't beaten. She had a plan, all along. She'd known what she was doing right from the start, when the Doctor whispered into her ear. I was there; I saw them beat the Master, together. Martha revealed the plan. The Doctor defeated his oldest enemy in a way straight out of a storybook. And Jack destroyed the paradox machine, sending the world hurtling back through time.

I was there. I was there, thinking the word 'Doctor' along with everyone else. Because the Doctor was right- nobody can control your mind. You can capture someone and chain them and kill them again and again, but in their mind, they are always free. And that is something the Master did not realise until it was too late.

You know, odd as it sounds, I pity him. The Master. I pity all people who cannot think of anything better to do with their lives than to cause pain and suffering to other people. Because all these people can do is make other people unhappy. They cannot feel happiness caused by helping another, only from hurting another. They cannot have friendship, or joy, or love. Love- the greatest gift of all.

I did not see Jack after he went to destroy the paradox machine. My father rushed me home. There was no time for goodbye, despite all my protests.

It's been a little less than two years since that day. Many times I have taken up my pen to write about it, and yet every time something has stayed my hand. I felt that the story was not yet complete. But now I know that it is.

Last week, we went to visit a friend of my father's. And- oh, joy of joys- he lived in Cardiff.

I told Dad I was going shopping. He didn't question it. Our experiences during the Year That Never Was brought us very closely together. I think he knew what I was going to do, and sensed that I'd rather be alone.

I found the door. It was exactly where Jack said it would be. I knocked and went in.

I knew who the man behind the desk was, without having to ask. The suit, the blue eyes, the stopwatch resting on the desk next to him… who else could it be, apart from the famous Ianto Jones?

'Can I help?' he inquired politely, looking up from a lengthy piece of paper with a title I was just able to read upside down before he covered it up- WEEVIL CAPTURE MISSION REPORT. I stifled a laugh.

'I'm here to visit Torchwood,' I said clearly.

I noticed shock and curiosity in his eyes. 'Why?' he asked, looking lost.

'Can I speak to Jack, please?'

'Jack? Um-'

'Old friend. Just popping by to say hello.'

'Erm- all right. Let me just, er-'

'Ooh, can you show me the cool slidey door? Jack told me about it. He said it's really wicked.'

Looking extremely startled, Ianto obediently pressed the button for the 'cool slidey door.' The wall glided out of place to reveal an immensely sci-fi corridor. Ianto disappeared down it, and returned a few minutes later with my friend Captain Jack.

There was silence for a moment, when he saw me. For an awful moment, I thought that he had forgotten me, forgotten the entire year along with the rest of the world. But then he smiled- that smile that was so hard to bring to his face, and yet so hard to get rid of once it was there.

'Good to see you, Jones, Ellie Jones.' He placed one hand on the shoulder of his confused looking colleague. 'I kept my promise.'

I laughed, and looked into those old, old eyes. 'And so will I.'

He laughed too. 'You were right. The night's over- and it most certainly is a beautiful dawn.'

It was raining outside. I could hear it pattering on the door. But the sun shone brightly into the room. Outside, hanging in the sky, perfect and shining, was a rainbow, painted against the sky in a blaze of colour- a rainbow that promised peace and hope. Forever.

I made a promise. I promised to make my life a good one. I promised that, when the time came for the future to pass into my hands, I would shape it into a good world. A kind world. A world of peace and freedom and hope.

I'd like you to stop for a moment now. I'd like you to think about what that promise means. And then I'd like you to make that promise too. Maybe, if everyone does that, we really can achieve my dream.

And Jack… if you're reading this, then I just want you to know, that, no matter how far down the drain my life's gone, no matter how little hope there is left, no matter how dark the night seems, I will always, _always_, keep that promise.

I am, after all, a Jones.

~The End~

**Please, please, please, please, **_**please **_**(lots of pleases here) review. It's great to have feedback on my writing, so I'd love it if you could just take a moment to tell me what you thought of this, along with some constructive criticism maybe. Thanks! :-D**


End file.
